


Ghostly

by lronspiderr



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood Loss, Blood and Injury, Gen, Happy Ending, Hurt Peter, Injured Peter Parker, Inspired by..., Major Character Injury, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Angst, hyper-empathetic, pain empathy, quote ghostly pains end quote, read the beginning note pls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-10-25 19:07:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20729264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lronspiderr/pseuds/lronspiderr
Summary: From a short distance, Tony Stark sees a red and blue figure sprawled out on a dock, with something deep red trailing from it. It's none other than a bloodied Spider-Man.





	Ghostly

**Author's Note:**

> First, we jump right into the thick of it with this one.
> 
> Second, this is inspired by a certain scene from the Warner Bros' Sherlock Holmes movie (with RDJ).

He reaches out to press the black spider on Peter's suit before the kid can even recognize him. The suit loosens and Tony pulls it down partly to see a mess of blood that had been unable to seep through the thick, liquid-resistant fabric.

"...Mr. Stark?" Peter's mask is resting crooked over his nose.

"There's a hook in you. There's a hook-" He stares helplessly and incredulously at the dark blood around the giant fish hook that's lodged in Peter's chest.

Friday hadn't told him what to expect when she passed on an alert from Karen only ten minutes before. Tony hurried over so quickly he hadn't been able to truly think, and now he's staring dumbfounded at his mentee who's writhing on the loading dock like a fish out of water.

Peter's refusing to move his left arm, since when he does it shoots pain from his chest to his shoulder. Besides that, he's moving his legs and turning his head to look over at his frantic mentor. He uses his right arm to reach up and pull his mask off the rest of the way.

Tony looks around for any sign of the perp who did this. There's been an obvious struggle, fishing nets discarded along the dock and busted crates floating in the water. Peter's left a blood trail from the nearby boat to his current position. He hadn't gotten far at all.

"Mr. Stark, how'd you find me?" Peter grunts. He tries to twist himself into a sitting position but Tony pushes him back down by his good shoulder.

"No, I ask questions first. How the hell did this happen?" He gets to his knees and hovers over him, his dress pants soaked by the wet deck and ripped by upturned splinters in the wood. Tony moves his hand but it freezes in the air above the hook.

Peter's eyes widen, a silent plea. His vision gets blurry by the tears in his eyes. It hurts worse than anything he's ever been through before. The hook isn't clean and it's digging into his flesh, and simply breathing makes the hook dig ever so slightly, back and forth. Despite the pain tucked under his lungs, he answers the question with a vague, "He came out of nowhere."

There's a loud crack from above, lightning, as it starts to rain. Peter shields his face with his hand while Tony attempts to merely ignore it.

Tony thinks to carry and fly him to the nearest hospital, but Peter's in his suit and he doubts the doctors will let something this serious go undocumented in hospital records. Even if they were to treat him, they would certainly feel obligated to call the police for an investigation.

He tucks his hand under Peter's head and tilts it so he's looking at him. "Kid, we have to get you back to the compound. I'll call Happy, he'll drive slow, we'll get you back and my medical team can get you hooked up on painkillers. The good stuff that works on you— you'll pass out and won't feel a thing."

Peter smiles faintly, eyebrows constantly furrowed in pain. He shakes his head slowly. Somehow, Tony fretting over him has calmed him down. His mind figures that as long as one of them are freaking out, the other can think rationally for a minute.

Tony's hand lowers to his chest and he immediately retracts it when Peter winces. Peter's blood seeps into the cuff of his white sleeve. Tony has a brief thought that it won't wash out.

"Mr. Stark, I really don't want to bleed all over Happy's car-"

"Pete, this isn't the time to be shy. The wound will close around it, it needs to get taken out right now."

Peter nods. "I know...You can handle the sight of blood, right? More than this, I mean? It's going to bleed, and a lot."

Tony furrows his eyebrows in confusion, but he's already understanding what the kid means and what's suddenly expected of him.

The rain worsens and bites through their clothes; Peter tries not to shiver in fear of the movement driving the hook deeper into his chest.

Tony's gaze darts to the hook, then back to Peter. He doesn't want to do it, doesn't want to inflict pain on the kid, but someone has to remove the hook and the sooner the better.

He reaches into his pocket and pulls a bracelet out. He slips it over his wrist, over the bloody fabric, and a slim gauntlet forms over his hand. There's nothing in it to aid him in strength, but it'll help with grip at least.

"Are you sure?" He asks.

Peter doesn't seem sure but he nods anyway. When Tony inches closer, Peter locks his jaw to try and stop any potential screams.

Tony gently pulls the suit away as much as it can go, but it's stuck on the hook so it only goes so far. There's another crack of lightning above them, and Tony is slightly in awe at how Peter doesn't flinch with his enhanced hearing.

"Okay, it'll be a piece of cake," Tony lies. He's trying to sound comforting but it's only making him more anxious, so he cuts the bullshit. He puts his armored hand around the hook, and adjusts his grip.

Peter speaks through gritted teeth at the movement, "Don't do that- Just- Just yank it out!"

Tony can't though, because it's a hook and he needs to take it out at a certain angle so it doesn't tear right through Peter's chest. He silently apologizes in advance and lifts it upwards to get the curved part of the hook in place. Peter's yelp is muffled, and then Tony pulls backwards as fast as he can.

Peter's screaming while Tony falls back with the bloodied hook in his hand, having used too much strength that knocks him off balance. He tosses the bloodied hook aside, and goes to aid him but there's a sudden pain in his chest that renders him motionless and shocked.

It's both a numbing ache and a pricking hot stab. He looks down at his chest as if he expects blood to be sleeping through his shirt, but there is none. He soon realizes the pain is in the same spot as Peter's wound.

Tony recalls that something like this had happened before. A stubbed toe that made his tingle. A burn on Peter's side that left his side aching. When Peter got hurt around him, Tony seemed to feel his pain. It had never been this serious of an injury before and he's confused by how strong Peter's pain echoes within him.

"S- Stark," Peter gasps.

Tony blinks rapidly, pulled back into the moment of Peter gasping and crying under the rain. He leans forward and slaps Peter's hand away before it can reach his wound.

He takes his shirt in his hands and rips it, then presses the torn piece against the wound. It won't do much, the fabric is thin, but Peter at least won't get the wound more dirty with his hand.

Tony sees Peter's tear-filled eyes, and there's a wave of pain that returns to his chest. He ignores it this time, knowing that Peter's pain is so very much worse. "It's out. It's okay." His voice is unsteady, and unconvincing.

Peter nods weakly and continues to cry openly, gasping and wincing. His hand trembles in the air as he tries to grasp something, anything. Tony takes it in his own and holds it tightly.

It takes a good hour and a half for the hook wound to close up. Tony doesn't notice it healing until he looks back halfway through and the wound is half the size it used to be. It's a bit terrifying to witness the kid's super-healing powers.

Tony had leaned over the wound so the rain wouldn't reach it, and his back is now screaming from staying in the awkward position but he's too worried to move it even slightly. While his back is still as stone, his arms are shaking from the rain soaking him to the bone.

Peter slowly moves his left arm, then his back. It makes him wince but he continues to move until he's in a sitting position. Tony leans away and his back screams its thanks in response.

Peter takes a somewhat deep breath, and is glad that it doesn't cause any discomfort anymore. He looks to meet Tony's intent stare and squeezes his hand before letting go. "I'm- I'm fine now," he tells him quietly.

"You're sure...?"

Peter nods.

Tony wants to know how he got a fish hook lodged in his chest, or how he ever got that far from his usual patrol area, or if there's some new punk that Peter underestimated like he had with Toomes. He doesn't ask any questions, though.

He stands and helps Peter to his feet. The rain refuses to let up, so he leads them under a bus stop a block away that has a glass cover over it. They sit down on the bench, Peter bloodied with his suit half off and Tony's shirt ripped on the side.

When he removes his gauntlet, Peter's blood is dried on his hand and flakes off when he runs his thumb over it.

Peter watches from beside him. "...It's never been this bad before," Peter says, and he isn't sure if it's to reassure him about past troubles or if it's to voice the concern he feels. "There were these men, they took something from the boat and it looked really sketchy so I thought I'd intervene, but two got away and the third used the hook..."

"You should have called the police."

"They're so slow to respond, and traffic is bad even in this area. The men would've been gone by the time the cops got to the docks."

Tony sighs. They've had conversations like this before. It never ended in an agreement. He can't agree to let Peter go completely, and Peter can't agree to let Tony hold on forever.

"I'm sorry," Peter mumbles, head hung low.

Tony looks at him, and there's the urge to tell him about the ghostly pain thing, but for some reason he holds himself back from talking about it. Instead he pats Peter's knee.

"It's a joint effort now to find them and whatever they stole," he says.

It isn't an opportunity to work with Iron Man. It's punishment for not being able to do it himself. Peter knows that. He nods somberly, "Yes, sir."

He sees to it that Peter gets home, and then he goes home himself. He took Peter's suit and fixes it over night. There's hardly any evidence that there had been a tear in it when he's finished.

When Tony gets a sharp pain in his chest by his heart, he reasons it was dehydration. He stops himself from calling Peter and asking about it, wondering if it's the ghostly pains again, but it couldn't be with Peter not being present.

Tony knows it'll take a while after this event to remember that any pain he feels on his own is his own and not the kid's. There's a brief thought that it could be a good thing, but he'd never rest if he could feel all the pain Peter felt.

It's a part of letting go, of knowing that things like this can happen, that even worse things than a literal hook to the chest can happen and he's not always able to rush to his side when they do. Not to mention all the things that may happen or have happened that Tony will never know about, because Peter won't be that open about such a thing anytime soon.

The men come back to the docks and attempt to retrieve something from another boat. It's easy for Tony and Peter to stop them, together.

Peter's already making bad jokes about the hook, and although it's not a great coping mechanism, Tony can't blame or judge him and he's glad to see that Peter isn't too shaken up by the ordeal.

"I should get going," Peter says with a general gesture to the city. The cops are there and have taken the men into custody, so it's time he moves to something else.

Tony nods. He knows he should get going too. "Be careful," he orders.

Peter waves his goodbye, and starts rushing away from the docks, only to hit his foot against the metal pole of the 'no diving' sign. "Ow," he mutters. He shoots a web and hoists himself up onto a building, and disappears out of sight on the other side of it.

Tony feels a dull pain move from his foot up his leg, a lingering discomfort for a few minutes. He shakes his head fondly, "Idiot."


End file.
